


Aithreachas

by Stargazer898



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Happy Ending, Inspired by Orpheus and Eurydice (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Inspired by Tam Lin, Inspired by the Wild Hunt, Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:08:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28240671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stargazer898/pseuds/Stargazer898
Summary: Sometimes folktales are more true than a reasonable person would hope.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 5
Kudos: 4





	1. Rathúlacht

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pelusoart (chellmibell)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chellmibell/gifts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things are worth fighting for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you all enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it ^.^

“What?” Claude’s voice came out harsher than he intended as Hilda explained yet another way Fodlan was insane.

“On the last day of the Wyvern Moon, the people who fought against Seiros and the Ten Elites ride to take vengeance. Anyone without a Talisman of Seiros protecting them is spirited to the Otherworld.” Hilda recited this as if it was a simple fact. The sun rises in the east. Water is wet. And ridiculous folk tales are completely valid sources of information.

“Hilda, I’ve never used one in my life and am just fine.” Claude hoped this would stop the conversation in its tracks, but of course Hilda wouldn’t let it go that easy.

“They only ride through Fodlan, so most of your life you wouldn’t need it. While the one year you were in Fodlan you were at Garreg Mach, which has them carved over every entryway.” Hilda’s obvious dismissal was becoming aggravating.

“Byleth and I both need a chance to unwind, and that’s the only time we can afford to spare. Are you willing to help me get the council Derdriu wrapped up before then or should I go to someone else?” Hilda softened at Claude’s reminder of why he was doing this in the first place. She knew better than anyone else how much their respective responsibilities were straining Claude and Byleth’s relationship.

“Of course I’ll help. Just promise me that you’ll take a Talisman of Seiros with you.” Claude gave Hilda a mocking grin at her stubborn insistence as she pulled out her own and offered it to him.

“If it will make the lady feel better I can add one to our packs before we head out.” Claude gave her his most pompous Lorenz impression, upturned nose and all, as he accepted her gift. Even though he still found the idea of a supernatural host of riders absurd, it wouldn’t hurt to indulge his friend.

“It will.” Hilda gave an imperious lilt to her voice, even as her eyes shined with mirth and relief.

***

Byleth beamed at him when Claude surprised her with their weekend getaway. She swiftly grabbed her sword and pack, which had been sitting in their room untouched but ready to be used at a moment’s notice since the end of the war, before giving Claude a peck. She knew that he hadn’t been avoiding her when he spent his days and nights making his dreams a reality, but the lack of time spent together without politics between them had created a distance they hadn’t had since she first began teaching the Golden Deer. She hoped this would help close it before it became impossible. Neither noticed that they had left behind the talisman Hilda had given them.

Byleth’s upbeat mood grew more and more as they approached the Edmund Forests. Marianne had promised him that the people were still unlikely to wander there, and that the only monster sightings that had been reported to her were well within his and Byleth’s ability to handle. Everything was coming together perfectly. He and Byleth were able to properly talk as they flew. Sharing their worries and joys in ways they simply hadn’t had the time for in so long. Relaxing back into their old dynamic as time passed. As soon as they landed they began scouting for monsters to fight. Something that they both missed within the walls of Derdriu. Relishing in the simple joy of tough fights and straightforward conflicts until the sun began to set. They set up camp with the ease of routine as they smiled and laughed together. They were as happy as they could be. Content to let the moment stretch for as long as it could and leaving the problems they had in Derdriu back behind the city’s walls. Which is why both were caught off guard when a rider galloped in abducted Byleth.

Wearing an ancient style of chain mail, with a shorter second layer pinned with a bronze triskelion to guard the neck and upper shoulders while maintaining mobility, paired with a coarse woolen tunic that not even Leonie would willingly wear, the rider looked as though he had arrived from centuries in Fodlan’s past. Such a relic should have been easy to beat. Yet he avoided all of Claude’s arrows, was unaffected by all of Byleth’s spells, and easily evaded Claude’s wyvern. For hours they clashed. Crossing into the blackest depths of the forest. Wherein no light could break through the dense cover. The sounds of the forest a distant echo as an unnatural stillness permeated the air. A sense of unease thrumming through him with every step. Despite this Claude managed to harrier the rider with his arrows between a towering cliff and a rapid river. He was seconds away from freeing Byleth, who had been scratching, clawing, punching, and all around hindering her captor however she could from the moment she realized he was immune to her magic, when dawn’s first light broke through a sliver in the canopy. Causing Byleth and her captor to dissipate like morning fog.

As his horror brought him to his knees, Claude only had one thought in his mind. He would do whatever it takes to bring Byleth back.

***

Staring at the forest that had taken Byleth only a year earlier, Claude let his fury fill him. For every night he wondered if Byleth was okay. For every day he had to push aside his emotions so he could keep everything afloat so it would still be there when he finally brought Byleth back. For every moment he burned with self recrimination. For every time he sought out Byleth only to remember that she wasn’t there. He let himself experience it all. Then he let it go and got to work. He followed paths that had to be reconstructed from where no one would dare cross. Pushing into the deepest hollows of the forest. Crossing deathly rapids, bogs, and crumbling cliffs as he approached the forest’s heart. When he finally found himself in the exact spot where he lost Byleth, he began to play.

Songs of loss. Songs of joy. Every song he ever learned he played. Over and over. As his fingers bleed, his tar strings heavy with his blood, he kept his low chant steady. Giving up was never an option. Not on Byleth. Never on Byleth. From the first peek of dawn’s light, through the midday blaze beating down on him, to the fading light of the setting sun he performed. Never wavering. Until the rider from the year before stopped before him.

“Why does thou play outside our realm.” Their voice scratched as they stared Claude down. Unable to understand why he sought them out. Few escaped a single encounter. What could motivate one to seek out a second one?

“I play for my lost love. My wife. My dearest friend. A year ago today she was taken from me on this very ground. I would seek to bring her back home.” Claude kept the formal cadence, hoping that this would not be the gamble he would lose.

“Thy love is gone. The Otherworld has birthed her anew, as it does all those who eat its fruits.” The rider shifted as they responded to Claude’s plea. Letting his words soften as they had never done before. For the Otherworld does not foster love or sacrifice. 

“Even born anew she is still my love. My partner. My friend. I would still see her home.” Claude’s conviction held firm. He never gave up on Byleth before, and he wouldn’t start now.

“Even so, only the Queen of the Otherworld may release one of our own. Better for thou to go home alone. Live thy mortal life in peace once more. Leave behind thy hope for thy love.” The air sang with potential as the rider’s words echoed. Claude’s next words would seal his fate.

“Then take me to the Queen of the Otherworld to plead my case. For better or not, I will not leave my love behind me.” With a snap, the rider turned from Claude. Lifting the hidden gate to the Otherworld he led Claude down. Magic sang in disparate harmony. Air danced off key and swift. Light blurred as true then, true now, and true tomorrow battled against not then, not now, and not tomorrow. Every step intensifying the disconcerting experience. Pressuring him to flee. Testing his resolve. He refused to falter.  
Just after the world passed the boundaries of surreal into completely incomprehensible, it snapped back into coherence. The woman before him stood proud in regalia fit for a Fodlan queen back before Sophis had descended from the heavens. Her eyes a sharp steel grey and her mouth in a slight thin tilt. “What business does thou bring before me?”

“I seek to bring my lost love home. I will face any trial, complete any task, and brave any danger so long as I may lead her home.” Claude held the Otherworld Queen’s gaze as he spoke. His voice harder than a wyvern’s claw.

Placid as a lake, the Otherworld Queen let silence fill the air between them. No one had ever come to her to release another before. Few would likely try after. However the Otherworld faded and brightened with the give and take of contracts. The people wove magics through play and cunning that were as devastating as they were awe inspiring. Never knowing lack nor plenty. As Queen she must meet Claude’s challenge in kind. Her land demanded no less. “Then let us see if thy love is true. Lead thy love back to thy mortal realm without once turning towards her. If so then you both shall be left free, hale, and whole. If not then thou will be banished while thy love remains here.” Gesturing, she summons forward Byleth. Faded and drawn, Byleth looked little more than a walking corpse. All signs of health and joys washed away from her. Face even more solemn than when she first stepped into Garreg Mach. Heart breaking, Claude began to reach for her but was stopped by the Otherworld Queen’s command. “Do not. Thou may hold her after returning to the mortal realm but not before. Begin walking thy path and thy love will follow. Now, begone. I have other matters to attend.”

Frustrated, but unwilling to push his luck, Claude turned and began his trek back to Fodlan. He spoke of his life over the past year, his hopes and fears, successes and failures, and ever present grief, in hopes that Byleth might respond. She did not. He tried to track her with his ears, listening for any breath or movement that might indicate she still followed, but she remained silent as the grave. He removed a ribbon from his jacket and let it trail behind him. In hopes that Byleth might reach out and grab it. It remained dangling throughout their trek. His heart pounded as they grew closer to the edge of the Otherworld. Settling into normalcy that could only be found on the edge of mortal realms. Byleth’s continued lack of presence becoming more apparent with each step. The terror that she might not be there after all suffocating him. If only he could reach for her. But to do so would damn them both. So on he walked. Fighting against his doubts he refused to falter. He let his nails draw blood as they dug into his palms. He let his body ache from the strain of holding firm. Until he finally crossed the border into Fodlan. His trial was complete. He brought Byleth home.

He turned, smile blooming across his lips and laughter bubbling up from him, only for his heart to plummet upon seeing Byleth’s horror stricken face. She was half a step away from being completely free of the Otherworld. Rushing forward he grabbed her before the winds of the Otherworld could snatch her away. They snapped and pulled with the strength of the fiercest storms. Magic burning as it sought to claim what had been lost. It transformed her into a fell beast, like the sort they had faced against in these woods when they attended Garreg Mach. He held true. Even as magic twisted and burned off of her, he refused to relent. When she shrunk back to human form he hoped that their trial was almost done. But he saw how her hair began to shift, as if holding a life of its own and knew they had far longer to go. Even as snakes began to bite him and claws ripped he refused to give into the Otherworld’s silent demand to release her. When her hair settled and claws retracted, Claude waited for her to speak. When she took a deep breath he almost dared to hope that she was herself again, but his hope shattered with the deafening scream she released upon him. Still he held her close.

As hours of transformations and struggles bleed into each other, Claude’s hold never wavering, the first light of dawn peeked through the dense canopy. As it descended upon them the harsh winds dissipated, the magic’s burn faded, and Byleth settled into her own form once more. Still not as healthy as it had been before her trip to the Otherworld, but undeniably her own. Turning up towards him she gave him an exhausted smile. “I’ve missed you.”

Returning it with a gentle smile of his own, Claude relaxed truly for the first time in over a year. “I’ve missed you too. Let’s go home.” Hand in hand, they did just that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back and forth on whether to keep the tragic ending of Orpheus and Eurydice or not, and eventually settled on having the second chapter be an alternate ending that keeps it ^.^


	2. Cailliúint

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even when the fight is destined to be lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Ending for those who are curious

He turned, smile blooming across his lips and laughter bubbling up from him, only for his heart to plummet upon seeing Byleth’s horror stricken face. She was half a step away from being completely free of the Otherworld. Rushing forward he grabbed her before the winds of the Otherworld could snatch her away. They snapped and pulled with the strength of the fiercest storms. Magic burning as it sought to claim what had been lost. He held onto her with all his might. Cursing himself for not being more careful. For not making sure that it was safe. For failing Byleth once more. Tears escaped him as he felt Byleth slipping from his grasp. Each time his hold slipped, happening closer and closer.

Until finally she was snatched firmly from his grasp. He rushed after her. Disregarding the banishment the Otherworld’s Queen had cast upon. Refusing to give Byleth up. Determined to stay by her side. However, his determination was for not. The paths to the Otherworld sealed themselves to him and the people deafened to him. He clawed until his finger soaked the earth with his blood. He screamed until his voice had grown hoarse. He sobbed until he had no tears left to shed. He failed her, and he would never have a chance to repent for his failures. Instead he would be forced to continue on without her, his world left an aching grey. He would have to look himself in the mirror every day for the rest of his life and know that he was the reason she could never return. Have that loss tear at him at every celebration, every remembrance, and every other event significant or fleeting forevermore. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap! I hope that you enjoyed it. Did you prefer one ending over another? Please let me know what you think ^.^


End file.
